My
heart leaps up when I behold A
rainbow in the sky:
-
William Wordsworth

As I pulled the truck up
next to one of my favorite trees I looked over my left
shoulder and there sat the most vivid rainbow that I
had ever seen. It appeared to me to be
about 100 yards away or maybe even closer. I was
unable to get a great shot at first. I couldn't
get out of the truck with the camera because it was
still raining fairly hard. I didn't want to get
water on my lenses. Due to the low
altitude of the setting sun the red color of this
rainbow was more vivid than the other
colors. Notice that the colors of the
secondary rainbow are opposite in order of the primary
rainbow colors with red appearing on the inside of the
bow. Also notice that the sky inside of a
rainbow is much brighter than the area outside.
For more information about rainbows go HERE.

The pictures above are
the first photos that I took. It shows the
apparent close proximity of the right flank of the
rainbow. That tree line is about 1500 feet
away from me as measured on an aerial
photo.

I have never seen a
rainbow this close before other than one created by
artificial sources of water such as a garden hose or
sprinkler. NOTE: No pot of gold was
found as a result of this event.

At left is a
fisheye lens view of the rainbow including the
old tree near the road. The hill behind me
put part of my surroundings in shadow.
This was my first ever shot of a complete
rainbow. No other camera or lens that I
have ever owned was capable of taking such a
shot where both flanks of the rainbow were seen
all the way down to the ground. As an
added attraction this was a double rainbow which
is most often the case.

This is a photo of the left flank of the
rainbow. The rain had moved beyond the tree
line at this point. These tall trees are near
the southern bank of the Grand River as it runs to
the east near Elam Bend.

I moved closer to
the tree with the fisheye lens for this
composition. The secondary rainbow is
still there but is disappearing fairly quickly.

As the rain moved on and the
rainbow dissipated the view was still picturesque
to the east. Notice that a
small portion of the rainbow (primary and
secondary) is still visible on either side
of the tree paralleling the trunk.

A ghostly red hue lit up the landscape as
the sun set deeper and deeper in the west.
Even though the rainbow was pretty much gone the sky
still continued to put on a show of color.

__

The sunset
colors filled the sky in every direction. The images
above show the view to the west.

This image shows the sky as it looked to
the south after the sun was below the
horizon. Rarely is an evening rainbow not
followed by such a scene.

At left are
summertime views of the same tree at Elam Bend
shot in 2005. The name "Elam Bend"
is a descriptive place name that describes a
sharp bend in the Grand River that occurs
here. The river has changed its course in
this area several times including a major shift
as a result of the flooding in 1993.
This area is also listed in the book Geologic
Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri as a
"shut-in" where the river valley narrows
considerably with bluffs very near the
river. You can see the area including the
tree using the Google map link shown
below. The tree appears as a black
dot in a tan colored field near the bend in the
road. The map should be centered right on
the tree. The tree has suffered much
damage since the images were taken due to harsh
winter ice storms.

A more recent view of the area taken from the
air. The tree is still there on the northern
(right) side of the curve in the road. A
firing range has since been dug into the side of
the hill to the south. This image was taken
in January of 2014.

A wide panorama
looking north of the Elam Bend Conservation Area
taken in January of 2014. The tree in the
rainbow photo is at the left. The McFall water
tower can be seen on the horizon on the right side
of the image. The white windmills near King
City can be seen on the horizon to the left of the
image. The GoPro fisheye lens used in this
image makes objects look farther away than they
really are. It's fairly easy to tell the
difference between old growth wooded areas and new
growth in this view. New growth areas have
grown in just recently (10 years) due to the
meandering of the Grand River.

A final view looking
south showing the Elam Bend Conservation Area and
the "shut ins" part of the Grand River.

Popularity and
fraudulent claims: The photos that were
taken on this evening have become very popular on
the internet. These rainbow images have been
used hundreds if not thousands of times on the
internet for personal and commercial purposes
without my permission. I have received
thousands of requests to use the images, especially
the ones taken with a fisheye lens, in various
projects. One image was even spread throughout
the web in a "chain letter" type e-mail. I did
not start this e-mail. Visits to this web page
and other Missouri Skies pages of mine have soared
into the tens of millions since these shots were
taken. This has brought with it both good and
bad experiences for me.

Back in 2009 I was even accused on
national New Zealand television and the internet
of stealing one of these images from a woman in
Auckland (3rd image from the top). I
was shocked that this happened. Needless to
say I complained about this. They have
since removed the video that claimed that I stole
the image and admitted that I am the rightful
owner after viewing my evidence. I received
quite a bit of hate mail accusing me of plagiarism
and theft because of this story. My brother
summed up the irony in the whole mess by pointing
out that they (TVNZ) used my photos without my
permission in order to do a news story about using
someone else's photos without permission.

The woman in the TVNZ story offered no
proof at all that she was the owner but I was able
to provide over 10 pieces of evidence to them
including the items below: